Event

The Story of Film: An Odyssey - Episode 7 & 8

Directed by Mark Cousins

With Abbas Kiarostami, Claire Denis, Jane Campion, Wim Wenders

Brimming with movie lore and more than 1,000 brilliantly juxtaposed clips, this 15-hour distillation of 115 years of cinema could only have been made by a cinephile as voracious as critic Mark Cousins, whose 2004 book of the same name won praise for its global and personal perspective on film history. This idiosyncratic valentine to the quintessential 20th-century art form champions both the glories of classic Hollywood and the lesser-known corners of the film universe, throwing the spotlight on some of Cousins' favorite unsung auteurs and drawing surprising connections among far-flung film communities. Featuring interviews with a who's who of contemporary masters (including Abbas Kiarostami, Wim Wenders, and Claire Denis), The Story of Film examines the nuts and bolts of film poetics while also maintaining a deep appreciation for the medium's abiding mysteries.

Episode 7

This is the explosive story of film in the late 50s and 60s. The great movie star Claudia Cardinale talks exclusively about Federico Fellini. In Denmark, Lars Von Trier describes his admiration for Ingmar Bergman, and Bernardo Bertolucci remembers his work with Pier Paolo Pasolini. We discover how French filmmakers planted a bomb under the movies and see how the new wave it caused swept across Europe.

Episode 8

This is the story of the dazzling 1960s in cinema around the world. In Hollywood, legendary cinematographer Haskell Wexler reveals how documentary influenced mainstream movies. Easy Rider and 2001: A Space Odyssey begin a new era in America cinema. And as the new wave in cinema sweeps around the world, we discover the films of Roman Polanski, Andrei Tarkovsky, and Nagisa Oshima. Black African cinema is born and we talk exclusively to the Indian master director Mani Kaul.